Angry Spouses
by HeavenStar2703
Summary: When Sakura and Temari found their husbands, Sasuke and Shikamaru, annoying beyond their tolerance, they decided to run away to teach them a lesson. From that decision, utter chaos, a roundaboutation chasing and an adventure began.
1. Chapter 1

This is a story I wrote to fight off my sister's and my boredom. So beware, it contains fluff that doesn't make sense, and nonsensical things that your mum probably thinks it would be a waste of time to read.

Otherwise, thank you for reading this story. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have writing it!

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**Angry Spouses**

**Chapter 1**

Temari was angry, and of course, if she was angry, it must be because of Shikamaru.

It wasn't unusual that they fight. In fact, anyone would say that they always fight. But this time, he finally went too far. He really managed to piss her off this time.

She couldn't believe that he did this.

She was really, really pissed off.

Shikamaru sighed.

He sighed for the forty ninth time as of today already.

He got kicked out of the bedroom last night.

Violently…

And he had no idea why.

For a genius, this was one of those rare times when he was completely lost as to what was going on, or what he had done.

Temari was really pissed off, no doubt about that. He could see it clearly in her eyes. If the looks could kill, Shikamaru would have been a dead puppy lying on the floor by now.

He slept on a couch last night, and that gave him a terrible backache. But that wasn't as annoying as the fact that he couldn't understand what was going on with her. Usually, when she was angry, she would shout, she would call him names, she would throw tantrums.

But this time, she was deadly quiet.

And it worried him.

Now he was lying on the grassy hill at his favourite cloud-gazing spot. It was also his favourite place to devise plans and strategies, too. He discovered long ago that the peace and quiet helped him think better.

But today, even his genius brain was running slowly. Even with his lazy attitude, he usually could think much faster than he was doing now.

He focused at the fluffy white object that was floating in the sky, trying to figure out what made Temari so angry.

Unfortunately, he failed.

So much for his genius brain…

Shikamaru sighed once more.

He'd never understand women.

He finally gave up thinking and continued gazing up the sky, wondering what on earth she was doing now.

***

Sakura was also very angry.

"Insufferable bastard!" The pink haired kunoichi spat out as she threw her medical bag strapped around her waist onto the floor unceremoniously. That action should have made her feel better, but it didn't. She marched inside the house, making as much stomping noises as possible just to express how angry she was.

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!!!"

Actually, scratch that comment. Sakura wasn't angry.

She was furious.

And when Sakura was as furious as she was now, everyone around her would feel her wrath, especially the cause of her anger.

If the cause of her anger was Naruto, as it usually was, he would cower in fear before her might. However, this time was different.

"Sakura, calm down." An unaffected voice from the 'cause of her anger' followed her from the doorway, seemingly undisturbed by the mist of anger emanating from his usually loving wife. Sasuke picked up the pouch Sakura left lying in the hallway and put in back in the place where it was supposed to be. Then he made his way to stand face to face with his infuriated spouse.

"Don't you dare telling me to calm down!" The fiery tempered Sakura shot back at him. "Not after what you did!"

As if to make sure he knew how she felt, she stomped her foot on the floor again to emphasise her anger. The meaning of this gesture, however, was lost on the Uchiha survivor. He stood facing her with his usual stoic expression, as if they were only just arguing about what they want for dinner.

"What did I do?" He asked in his usual toneless voice, and that made Sakura seethed even more.

"What did you do?!? You have the nerve to ask me that???" Sakura was practically shouting now, and Sasuke grimaced at the sheer volume of her voice. "You interfered with my mission, you arrogant bastard!!!"

"Watch the language, Sakura." Sasuke chided his cherry blossom with a slight frown. "Don't say things like that."

"Don't you dare tell me what to do!" Sakura snapped at her stoic spouse. She took a deep breath, as if trying to calm down. As much as Sakura felt like maiming her husband, she still wanted to know why he did what he did.

"Why did you interrupt my mission briefing anyway?" Sakura asked in the most calming voice as she could manage at the moment. Her anger was boiling again as she continued to speak. "You got me kicked out of that mission!"

Sasuke raised his perfect brows, incredulous at her question. Seriously, did she even have to ask? Like hell he would let her go on a mission in her current condition.

His expression suddenly became tender and fiercely protective, all at once.

Not in this lifetime, or even the next one, would he let her go on a mission when she was a month pregnant with his child.

But Sasuke, being an Uchiha, would never admit how much he worried for her. So he kept his silence. As he turned away to hide his feelings, he missed the expression of hurt on her face. He disappeared into the kitchen, and the sound of him preparing for tea echoed clearly in the quiet house.

The feeling of hurt made its way to Sakura's heart as she lost herself in her own thoughts. After all this time, he still thought of her as weak. All the efforts she made, all the trials she had put herself through, they were all unrecognised by the person whose opinion mattered to her the most.

Unbidden tears watered her eyes, and she blinked them back so that Sasuke wouldn't have the chance to see them. She couldn't cry in front of him right now. That would confirm his belief, however wrong it might be, that she was weak. Why? Because the Uchiha was stupid... stupid, stupid, stupid!

Sakura shook her head and steadied her thoughts. Who cared what that anti-social retard thought, anyway? She wouldn't this time!

She was going to teach him a lesson for belittling her!

So, while Sasuke was busy worrying about Sakura in the kitchen under the guise of watching over the kettle boiling, Sakura grabbed her purse and ran out of the house as quietly as possible.

***

Temari was walking around Konoha, hoping the walk would clear her mind. She didn't have much thing to do lately, and it gave her too much time to think.

She really wished she could distract herself from thinking, but she already cleared all of her paperwork, and there was no mission near in sight. She could do some housework, sure, but she was also sure as hell she didn't want to do that bastard any favour at the moment. So that didn't leave her with a lot of choices.

She sighed again, for god-knows-how-many-times that day.

She tried to remember what it was that she usually did in her free time. And it clicked her mind. Oh, of course. She usually spent her free time yelling at Shikamaru. So much for trying to find a distraction from her present trouble...

She already calmed down a lot, but she was still angry at Shikamaru.

She sighed again, trying to not think about it for a while. It would just piss her off again.

Instead, she thought about what she could be doing. She wasn't much of a shopping type, so going shopping wouldn't do her any good. It might tire her, but not enough to distract her from such gloomy thoughts.

Hinata was on a vacation with the whisker face, or rather, a honeymoon that had now reached a month time period. Damn those love birds... So visiting the Hyuuga Heiress was out of the question.

Ino was probably busy with her work at the Yamanaka flower shop. Either that or she was shopping. No help from this girl, either...

Tenten was out for a mission and wouldn't be back for a while, and that was that.

So it left Sakura.

The idea brightened Temari a little. She hadn't talked to Sakura for a while already. Their timetables had been clashing for a while now, and they hadn't had an opportunity to really talk in ages. So she decided it was time to go visit her pink haired friend at the Uchiha Residence.

A few minutes later, Temari arrived at the Uchiha Residence. It was only a few streets away from the Nara's, so they were living quite close to each other. She always visited Sakura whenever she had some spare time, and Sakura always did the same.

As she neared the gate of Uchiha Residence, she saw Sakura coming out of the house.

***

As Sakura was closing the gate of the Uchiha Estate, she was greeted by a familiar voice.

"Sakura, are you going out?" Temari asked as she saw Sakura. The kunoichi from Suna often visited the pink haired medic ninja whenever she had spare time, and Sakura often reciprocated the favour. After Sakura had saved Kankurou from Sasori's poison, both kunoichi had become close friends and discovered they had a lot in common...

...including romantically retarded husband...

"What's going on? You don't look well." Temari remarked as she saw Sakura's ashen face. Her sharp eyes could see that Sakura's eyes were glistening a little too brightly than usual.

Sakura let out a small sigh. "Nothing much... it's just... just Sasuke."

"Oh..." Temari didn't really know what to say to that, especially when she just had a fight with her pineapple head husband, too.

Damn it. Why did all of them suddenly decide to be so... so... annoying now, all at the same time?

"You don't look good, either." Sakura broke the silence between them. "Your man pissed you off, too, huh?"

Temari shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant about it, but the expression Sakura saw in her eyes said otherwise. "Let's go find somewhere to talk... privately."

***

In Tsunade's favourite Sake House, Sakura and Temari sat at their usual especially reserved VIP table. Both kunoichi often came here to... well, for the lack of better words, bitch about their retarded husband, and today, the stream of conversation regarding their spouses flowed as quickly as the sake served in this place.

"Damn that pineapple-head, lazy ass, good for nothing husband!" Temari raised her tenth-something sake glass. Her hands were wobbly from the intoxicating effect of alcohol and she almost spilt the sake into Sakura's lap. "I'm so fed up with him and his attitude! Troublesome, my ass!!!"

Sakura, who was equally drunk, giggled and cheered her friend on. "Yes! You tell him, -hic- Temari!" The pink haired medic hiccupped and continued to wave her empty sake glass around. "And I'm gonna tell Sasu-cakes how he should –hic- take that stick out of his ass!"

Clear, ringing laughter from the kunoichi could be heard throughout the sake house. Nobody was paying attention, however, as most of the patrons here were drunk, anyway. This was why this was the safest place to... ahem... have a discussion about their man, as no one would hear anything of it.

While they were both trained to be aware of all their surroundings at all time, none of them could care less about what was going on around them. Both girls were so absorbed in their own conversation, they didn't notice that there was a person approaching their table until she was standing in front of them.

"Yosh, Sakura, Temari." The gruff voice greeted them. Both women turned to see the owner of the voice.

"Lady Tsunade!" Sakura exclaimed happily. Luckily for all, Sakura was mostly a happy drunk. Everyone, especially the owner of the Sake House, didn't dare to imagine what she would be like if she weren't. Tsunade, however, was another case entirely.

"Nice to see you –hic- here!" Sakura hiccupped her greeting to her mentor.

"Lady Tsunade!" Temari also greeted the Hokage rather more cheerfully than usual. Most of the time, Temari would maintain her serious and professional demeanour, but in her drunkenness, she was able to be at her most relaxed state of mind and lost all of her reservation and formality.

"Those men pissed you guys off again, huh?" Tsunade said knowingly.

Actually, it was Tsunade who first recommended them to come here to have a session where they could freely 'discuss' the faults of their beloved. After a while, it became a habit for the two of them to come here every so often. Now, they only had to wait for Hinata to join, since she just married Naruto a month ago...

Sakura invited Tsunade to take a seat with them. Tsunade obliged her without hesitation, and soon, the three women became odiously inebriated. The owner of the Sake House told his waiters to keep a watch on the three of them closely, and a deep frown creased his face as he worried for the safety of his shop and his patrons.

As the three of the greatest kunoichi of Konoha were getting drunker by the minutes, the conversation of how all men were pigs became even more heated.

"He needs to open his eyes and sees that I'm no longer weak, I'm telling you! He, of all the people, should know how strong I am!" Sakura banged her fist on the table, and the owner of the Sake House cringed, worrying whether his table was going to survive under the forceful fist of the Fifth Hokage's apprentice, all the while praying fervently that it would.

"I know how you feel!" Temari volunteered; her voice high-pitched with emotion. "Shikamaru should start picking up his slack, that lazy bastard! He's always troublesome this, troublesome that, and that's so troublesome!!!"

"I'm not sure I understand what that means..." Tsunade rubbed her temple. Her eyes were already glazed drunkenly. "But anyway, if they bother you so much, why don't you just leave?" She suggested helpfully.

"What!?!?" Both kunoichi asked instantly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, just to teach them a lesson!" Tsunade giggled uncontrollably. "Let them all fret and worry for a while, while you guys go and have the time of your life!"

No one would ever say that Tsunade wasn't a strategist.

"It would be fitting!" Temari raised her fist in agreement. "Let teach those pigs a lesson!!! I'm gonna show him what the word 'troublesome' really means!"

"SHANNARO!!!" Sakura also raised her fist in agreement. Her eyes were now glazed with drunkenness, and something far more devious.

"Good!!!" Tsunade spurred them on as she handed them the paper she was scrawling on a moment ago. Sakura took it from her hand and stared at it dazedly, while Temari looked over Sakura's shoulder to see the content on the paper.

"Here's the permission for both of you to leave the village! Now, go, my children! Go towards the light of freedom!!!"

After taking a full minute to absorb what her master just said, Sakura stood up straight instantly.

"Hai, Shishou!!! I'll obey your order!!!" Sakura saluted and ran out of the Sake House top speed. "Freedom, here I come!!!"

"Wait for me!!!" Temari followed closely, taking a sake bottle in her hand with her as well. "I'm gonna be free as well!!!"

"Fly free, my children!!!" Tsunade shouted after them. "FLY FREE!!!"

The owner, the waiters, and the patrons of the Sake House pretended they did not witness any of the above mentioned happening at all.

***

Well, that's the first chapter! My sister and I would be very happy if you think it worth your time to give us a review! Doesn't matter if it's 2 words or 2 pages long. Reviews make us happy!

Thanks all for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

After making sure Hatsune was soundly asleep, Shikamaru asked his mother to come and watch over his daughter while he took off to find his errant wife. After much complaining from his spirited mother, saying that she only do this for him tonight since she and her husband would be going on a vacation tomorrow morning, he went to see Ino, but she said that she didn't see Temari at all today. She also gave him a loud, high-pitched yell into his ear for interrupting her work. Hinata and Tenten weren't here, as one was on a honeymoon and the other on a mission...

So that was why he was heading towards the Uchiha Residence. Being a genius that he was, it wasn't hard to figure out who Temari would be going to see, especially when she was upset like this.

Before he reached the place, however, he saw Sasuke running in his direction. Although his demeanour seemed as undisturbed as ever, there was a look of panic rising in his eyes.

"Hey, Sasuke." Shikamaru greeted the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan as he slowed down, only to get a usual 'hn' as a response. Shikamaru didn't find it rude or mind it, as they both had become sort of friends, due to Sakura and Temari's closeness.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked. He didn't even try to hide the abruptness in his voice. Something was disconcerting Sasuke badly, at least badly enough to make him panic.

"You look like shit." Shikamaru remarked, waiting for the response from the stoic Uchiha.

Sasuke sighed loudly and confessed quietly. "I fought with Sakura, and I can't find her now..."

"Figured..." Shikamaru nodded as he realised something.

_She probably went out with Temari…_

"You don't look pretty well either." Sasuke said, disrupting Shikamaru's train of thought. He sighed for the seventieth time that day.

"Temari's pissed at me for some god-knows-reason"

Sasuke sighed again.

"How come you didn't realise Sakura was gone? You're usually alert to even the tiniest sound she made."

Sasuke turned away and said quietly, sounding a little defensive. "There were a lot of things on my mind."

"Like what?"

Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at the other man, stubbornly remained silent.

_Like I'm going to tell you I was thinking about how to name my first child…_

Shikamaru shot him his usual bored stare.

_W-O-W Like I care…_

Shikamaru sighed for the seventy-first time that day.

"Let's get out of here. I want to find my wife, go home, and then get some sleep. I'm also pretty sure she's out with your wife."

Sasuke nodded, and the two of Konoha most talented shinobi, who were both romantically retarded, began their search for their wayward beloved.

***

Sasuke and Shikamaru entered the Sake house after running around the whole village, trying to find their wives were gone. They were nowhere in sight, and they didn't think to look for them in the Sake House before, so it was the last place they searched.

Sasuke was partially panicking inside already. If it wasn't for the fact that most Uchiha always retained their calm and cool even in the face of catastrophe, Sasuke probably would have been out of his mind by now.

Their eyes quickly scanned the surrounding of the Sake House, and an instant later, they spot their Hokage gulping down copious amount of sake down at the especially reserved VIP table.

Both Shikamaru and Sasuke moved together towards the table at once.

"H-hey, you –hic- guys~!" Tsunade, who had already reached her tenth-something bottle already, slurred as she greeted her two top-class shinobi. She waved at them and spilt the sake in her cup on Shikamaru's vest, but he couldn't be bothered with that right now.

"Tsunade-sama." They both greeted back at once, but before either of them could get their question out, the drunk Hokage beat them to it.

"Wat ya -hic- doin' h-here? I thought Sasuke dididn't d-drink –hic- and Temari just s-scowled at you –hic- about drinking?"

"Our wives are gone. Sasuke is internally panicking by now." Shikamaru answered quickly. "Have you seen them?"

"O-oh! I just –hic- remember~"

"Where?" Sasuke almost shouted the question, earning disapproving glares from the patrons around them. He didn't pay attention to any of them, however. "Do you know where they are now?"

"I t-told them to –hic- run away f-from their idiotic h-husbands~! Wait... hic! Oh! That would be you guys!!!" The Fifth Hokage giggled uncontrollably as she suddenly remembered the relationship these men shared with the runaway kunoichi.

Tense moments of silence took over both shinobi as Tsunade poured herself another cup of sake. Sasuke's hand clenched into tight fist as Shikamaru placed a hand on his friend's shoulder as a warning for him to restrain himself.

"If she's not the Hokage, she'd be dead by now." Sasuke muttered under his breath venomously. His mind was in turmoil right now.

"Do you know where they went?" Shikamaru asked, trying to sound patient and calm. But if only he could, he would also like to smack some sense into this Hokage as well.

"Dunno...~ just gave them the permission to leave –hic- the village... hehe..."

Both husbands cursed viciously under their breath and quickly exited the Sake house. Sasuke was internally panicking in full steam right now, and he guessed Shikamaru wasn't much different from him, either.

Shikamaru quickly kept up with Sasuke's furious pace and sighed for the ninety ninth time that day.

"No wonder she's such a heck of a Hokage..."

***

It didn't take long for Sakura and Temari to reach the inn. They were the top-class kunoichi of Konoha, after all, and they made their way quickly through the dense forest in short time without incidents.

It was a few hours past midnight when they arrived at the inn. The innkeeper had a little difficulty in understanding what the two drunken kunoichi wanted at first, but eventually she guessed that they wanted to stay here for the night and took them to a room upstairs.

As soon as the futon were laid out and the maid left them to themselves, both Sakura and Temari fell asleep immediately, exhausted from their journey and bouts of drinking.

They were, of course, oblivious to all the troubles their husbands were going through.

***

"Shit! If I have to leave the village, then I need to find someone to look after Hatsune." Shikamaru swore. "My mother is leaving tomorrow, too. Damn it all!"

"Why don't you ask Kurenai to babysit?" Sasuke suggested, but Shikamaru shook his head.

"She's on a mission, too."

"So who's babysitting her kid?" Sasuke asked; trying to come up with a solution, so both of them could finally started chasing after their wives. "We could leave Hatsune with that person, right?"

"No way in hell I am going to leave my daughter with Shino." A look of horror painted Shikamaru's face. "Hatsune is scared of all kind of insects, and Shino is a freak."

"Ino?" Sasuke helpfully suggested, only to be met by a big 'NO'.

"She will likely taint my daughter's mind and dress her in hideous shades of pink, and then Temari WILL really finish me off."

Sasuke let out a frustrated sigh before racking through his mind of the possible candidates to babysit Shikamaru's precious child. "Let's see, Kurenai is away. Naruto and Hinata are also not here, as well as Tenten. Kiba and Shino aren't an option..."

Shikamaru nodded to confirm that statement. "And don't even think about Lee." He added, while Sasuke rolled his eyes. The expression on his face screamed out 'well duh' louder than mere words could.

"Chouji?"

"Not here, either."

"So, out of the Konoha Twelve, that leaves..."

***

"Let me get this straight. You came to see me in the middle of the night to ask me to babysit your child while both of you will go after your wives who ran away from you for some godforsaken reasons?"

"Damn straight," was Shikamaru's answer to that statement, while Sasuke just looked as emotionless as ever.

Neji frowned and sighed. Obviously, subtle refusal didn't work with these two. The Hyuuga Prodigy then decided that nothing would do but directness.

"No." Neji said simply to Shikamaru's face. "Go find someone else to look after your child. I'm not a babysitter."

Neji was about to shut the door in Shikamaru's face when the shadow user interrupted him.

"I'm not sure you have the option to refuse." Shikamaru said simply. "I didn't come here unprepared."

The Byakugan user raised his eyebrows at the genius. "Oh, really? Please, enlighten me why I should do this chore for you then." Neji's voice was thick with sarcasm.

Sasuke smirked at Neji's confident words, knowing full well the man was about to go down, while Shikamaru coughed before continuing.

"Do you remember when Tenten went to visit her vicious great aunt?" Shikamaru asked, his voice artfully casual, yet the meaning behind his words made Neji flinched all the same.

"I remembered how Tenten expressly asked you to accompany her on that visit, and how you came to ask me to tell Tenten that you'd be going on an important mission with me... which I clearly remembered wasn't quite true..."

Neji swallowed inaudibly. He knew defeat when he saw it right in front of his eyes.

Sasuke smirked again, clearly enjoying the discomfort the Hyuuga was experiencing. Shikamaru also smirked in triumph.

"Here's the key to my place, Neji. Make sure you look after my daughter with utmost care." Shikamaru handed the spare key to Neji, who reluctantly took it from his hand. Seeing the expression on the Hyuuga's face, Sasuke couldn't help but wish he had a camera with him. "If I return to find my Hatsune even a little distressed, Tenten will hear about what happened..."

Neji gritted his teeth and glared at the evil genius. If only look could kill...

"Let's go already!" Sasuke prompted Shikamaru impatiently. "We want to catch up with them as soon as we can."

"Right, let's go." Shikamaru caught up with Sasuke who had already started walking. He turned back to a seething Neji and smile wickedly while waving goodbye.

"Have fun, Neji-nii-chan!"

Oh, Shikamaru was going to die when he came back...

***

From the information they were able to extract from Izumo and Kotetsu, who had been half asleep on the job, they found that the kunoichi's destination was the hot spring village. Both did not waste time to go home to collect their clothing. Instead, they rushed after their beloved at their top speed without a second thought.

Shikamaru wasn't angry, but he was worried. He must have done something for this to happen, but he didn't know what, and for her to be angry enough to actually listen to the advice Tsunade gave… It must be really, really bad… and he could already sense that it would be an arduous task to get her to forgive him again. He was inwardly thinking of Plan A, B, C, D and so on already in his mind, and how long it would take her to calm down enough to forgive him.

Shikamaru couldn't help but sighed for the hundredth and seventh time… No, not really the hundredth and seventh time… It was actually well past midnight now, so he should count this one separately from yesterday…

He let his mind wandered as he thought about what he could have done to anger his wife. They had a lot of fights every now and then, but never, in his mind, had things escalated to the level that made her run away from him.

And it shocked him…

He didn't want to think, couldn't bear to think that she was so angry that she couldn't bear to see him anymore. The thought actually hurt, very much.

He racked his brain trying to find out why. He knew he hadn't been the best of husband to her. He was lazy, messy, and troublesome… Yes, laugh at him; go on ahead, he admitted he was troublesome, alright? But Temari was okay with all that, wasn't she? Could she actually be getting tired of him?

He shook all those foreboding thoughts away, and his eyes suddenly shone with determination brighter than ever before. Whatever it was he did do, or didn't do, he would correct it. He would do anything to make things right again. It would be troublesome, yes…

But he would do it for her. Only for her…

Meanwhile, Sasuke was worried, pissed, angry, and worried again as he had never felt before.

Damn that woman! Damn, damn, damn!

Another stream of curses followed. He was sick with worry for her. What if she had encountered bandits or thieves? What if she came across rogue ninja? What if...

And in her condition like this… He gritted his teeth even harder, and some of his anger returned. Why was it that she never learned to take care of herself? Why did she always have to make him so worry for her? Didn't she know how much she meant to him?

Didn't she know?

***

Sakura woke up with the most terrible headache she hadn't experienced since the last time she had a fight with Sasuke.

"Aww…" She rubbed her temples with both hands as she tried to rise from her futon. Then, she suddenly noticed that her surrounding didn't look all too familiar. "Where the hell am I?"

She looked around the room and spotted Temari sleeping soundly next to her. She felt a little relieved at seeing her friend, and decided not to wake her up just yet.

But being a light sleeper, Temari woke up at once when she realised she was being looked at. She jolted up and then the headache from a hangover hit her hard. Temari groaned at that terrible feeling before croaking out a question to Sakura.

"Ugh... Where the hell are we?" She rubbed her temples vigorously, trying to make the ache disappeared. "This place doesn't look familiar..."

"I'm not quite sure, either." The pink haired kunoichi shook her head at her friend's question. "Let me just check for a bit."

She got up slowly from her futon and walked towards the window. She opened it to let fresh air in, and she recognised the view at once.

"This... this was the inn where I stayed when I came on that mission with Team 7... when we were trying to unmask Kakashi-sensei..."

"Oh..." Temari responded to the statement wonderingly, before smiling mischievously. "Do I want to know about it...?"

"No, you don't." Sakura cut her friend off quickly. "But there is one thing you should know..."

"And what would that be?"

"We are not in the Hot Spring Village at all. Our destination is actually in the complete opposite direction..."

"..."

Hopefully, that would have taught them to not travel while they were drunk the next time they feel the urge to run away from their retarded husband.

***

Meanwhile, in the _actual_ Hot Spring Village...

It was a peaceful day in the Hot Spring Village. The sky was so blue. The clouds were floating by slowly. The birds were flying towards the north, and a tree trunk flew by at a great speed. A few seconds later, that said trunk landed with a resounding crash.

"WHERE IS SHE???"

The birds were chirping peacefully... sort of? There were people running in every other direction, other than where the dark haired, red eyes ninja was standing, with a pineapple head friend next to him, trying somewhat futilely to restrain him from doing something rather... unpeaceful? (Is there even such a word?)

"Calm down, Sasuke... Don't panic now..." Shikamaru managed to hold both of Sasuke's shoulders and kept him from kicking everything in sight in rage.

"I DON'T PANIC! AN UCHIHA NEVER PANICS! DAMN IT!" Uchiha's sole survivor shouted back, even though he didn't need to. "I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHERE MY WIFE IS!!!"

A group of young children were crying for their mothers, trying to find their way back to their homes blindly through all the frightened tears spilling from their eyes.

"SO DO I, EMO BOY! SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!" Shikamaru, who finally had enough of Sasuke's anger, shouted back. "IT'S NOT LIKE I DON'T WANT TO FIND MY WIFE AS WELL!"

Another trunk of tree flew by, and the group of people ran away quickly as it landed in the middle of the spot where they were standing mere moments before.

"DON'T MAKE ME USE MY SHADOW JUTSU ON YOU, CHICKEN HEAD!!!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, NARA!!!"

"THEN STOP SHOUTING!!!"

"NO, YOU STOP SHOUTING!!!"

NO, YOU!!!"

"NO!!!"

Ah... it was such a peaceful day in the Hot Spring Village...

***

Well, that's another chapter done! I couldn't stop giggling after I wrote this for a while. I made my sister read this, and she couldn't stop giggling, either. Hopefully, this chapter will be as amusing to you all as well.

More importantly, I'd like to thank you all who reviewed, and those who added this story to favourite author/alert/etc. It's a really nice feeling to know that the story you have written is being appreciated. But if you can spare your time to give a two-word comment, I'd be really, really happy. After all, it's the only thing I will get, and want, from posting this story.

Thanks all again for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Temari and Sakura were making their way back to their _actual _destination. Their pace was slow and comfortable, unlike the reckless speed they had travelled at last night. They were chatting comfortably, stopping at almost every teahouse, and taking a detour to see only the smallest point of interest without worrying for time.

Later that afternoon, both kunoichi reached the village.

"Whew, this must be it, the Hot spring Village!" Sakura cheered happily. She was getting a little bit tired. Usually, this kind of distance didn't tire her that easily, but having a hangover while travelling could make easy distance seemed a lot worse than it actually was.

"Finally!" Temari, who was in the same condition as Sakura, breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm dying to go to the hot spring!"

However, as they made their way into the village, they found it to be deserted. The people were nowhere in to be seen. The streets were empty, and the lights were almost all out. Everything was quiet... too quiet for their liking.

"I wonder what happened here..." Sakura murmured to Temari who immediately reached for her weapon.

"I don't like the look of it..." Temari whispered back as she drew her fan out. "Be ready for anything, Sakura."

The pink haired kunoichi nodded back and tightened her gloves soundlessly.

Both kunoichi turned around immediately as their keen ears suddenly picked up strange noises from the opposite direction. They looked at each other understandingly, before threading silently towards the nondescript inn where the mysterious noises came from.

As they got closer to the inn, they tried to make out what those noises were, but to no avail. The noises were too muffled, which meant they must have come from a well guarded space.

Temari and Sakura checked their surrounding, and after they were sure there were no traps, both entered the inn...

...which was empty as well, strangely enough...

Suddenly, another wave of noises came over them once again...

"Upstairs." Temari mouthed the words noiselessly. Sakura began walking silently, and Temari followed close behind.

The place was dark, and apart from the noises that came from that room, everything else was quiet.

As they reached the door of the room that the noises came from, they pressed their ears on the door to listen to what was going on inside.

"It sounds like shouting..." Sakura whispered under her breath. "It sounded pretty agonising... although I'm not too sure what it's about. The room is soundproof."

She glanced towards her friend while making a gesture, asking her silently whether to enter the suspicious teahouse or not.

"Let's do it." Temari nodded grimly. Both kunoichi charged and kicked the door open forcefully.

"Everyone, stop right..." Temari paused mid-sentence as she saw what was in that room.

Sakura gasped loudly before she could stop herself.

And they almost couldn't believe who they saw...

***

After ransacking every inn in the Hot Spring village, and then decimated a part of this once peaceful yet lively village, Sasuke was tied up by Shikamaru and then placed in the room of one of the inns they... err... went through earlier.

"LET GO OF ME, SHIKAMARU!!!" Sasuke, who went into full stage of berserk panic, shouted at Shikamaru, who was nursing several bruises on several parts of his body. "YOU ARE WASTING MY TIME! I NEED TO FIND MY WIFE!"

"And we WILL do it, Sasuke." Shikamaru emphasised as he looked at Sasuke, who tried to pry himself out of the ropes and kicked furiously as he failed. "Only that we will do it when you're rational AND thinking properly."

Sasuke growled angrily at his friend. He took a deep breath, trying strugglingly to calm down.

"Just. Release. Me." Sasuke gritted the words out. His non-existence patience was... well... non-existence.

"I will do that when I'm sure you have calmed down." Shikamaru replied with a stoic expression as usual, which drove the Uchiha Prodigy to his limit.

"JUST DO IT, DAMN IT!!!"

Suddenly, the door to their room opened.

Both shinobi turned and saw their two visitors.

***

"Naruto! Hinata-chan!" Sakura squealed happily as she saw Naruto in the middle of the room. Piles and piles of ramen bowls were stacking high beside him. Naruto, who was oblivious to most things, didn't notice how dangerously close they were stacking on precarious balance, almost ready to fall down on his head any moment.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!! What are you doing here?!?" Naruto's face perked up excitedly as he saw his pink haired teammate. "Temari, too!!!"

Hinata walked towards both kunoichi happily, taking Temari's hands into her own. "What are you guys doing here, Sakura-chan, Temari-chan?"

Next to Naruto, another man was going through his bowl of ramen furiously. However, his stack of ramen bowl was considerably shorter than Naruto's pile. Naruto, who was usually the least observant ninja of all, took notice how his competitor's pile was getting higher. His blue eyes became fierce and turned back to his ramen bowl.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan, gotta talk later! I've gotta beat this guy in the ramen eating competition~!" And with that, the demon fox container went back to his some thirtieth bowl of ramen, and another cheer from the sea of crowd went up again as he finished his bowl in less than about five seconds.

"It seems your honeymoon is rather... interesting..." Temari remarked, her face carefully neutral. She was trying her hardest not to sweat-drop, just like Sakura who was standing next to her.

_What kind of a honeymoon is this??? You shouldn't participate in a ramen eating competition while on a honeymoon, Naruto!!! SHANNARO!!!_ The Inner Sakura screamed, frustrated at her dense friend who had no clue on what a honeymoon trip should be like.

However, Hinata, who always was obliviously to everything around her as long as Naruto was around, didn't seem to mind. She nodded happily at Temari's comment, and a becoming blush graced her cheeks.

"I know... I'm just so happy we decided to come to this bamboo village..." She sighed contentedly, as if her husband had taken her to paradise already.

Sakura and Temari smiled dryly and secretly sweat-dropped at the new bride, until they realised the little something their friend had just mentioned.

"WHAT?!?"

Hinata was slightly surprised to get such a strong reaction from her two friends, and confused. "W- What's wrong?" She asked, her nervousness returning a little, not much, because Naruto was close, but still a little.

"You- You mean we're in the Bamboo Village...?" Temari asked. Her face paled considerably from the shock of what she just learned.

"As in, we're not in the Hot Spring Village...?" Sakura also questioned her friend. Her voice was weak with fatigue and dread.

"...yes, we are in the Bamboo Village..." Hinata answered quietly, awaiting her friends' reaction warily. "And no, it's not the Hot Spring Village..."

"Not again..." Both Temari and Sakura groaned, and collapsed to their floor from their exhaustion.

***

"Kakashi! Jiraiya-sama!" Shikamaru exclaimed, surprised at how both ninja had shown up unexpectedly.

Sasuke just looked even unhappier than before. "Oh, great..." he cursed under his breath.

"Of course it's great! After all, I'm Jiraiya-Sama, Master of Toads, and the handsomest shinobi in the world!" Jiraiya offered enthusiastically, while Kakashi and Shikamaru sweat-dropped behind the cackling Jiraiya.

At that particular moment, Sasuke couldn't imagine how his life could get any worse than this.

"What are you guys doing here, anyway?" Kakashi asked softly, but his eyes were glinting with keen interest, ready to pick up every little single detail. "We arrived at this village, expecting it to be lively and full of people. Instead, we found an empty village and you two in this apparently abandoned inn... all... tied up..."

Shikamaru gave an exaggerated sigh, and Sasuke groaned, frustrated at how everything turned out.

...Boy, they had quite a bit of explaining to do...

***

Meanwhile, Hatsune was having the time of her life.

Neji, however, was not.

Neji, according to Shikamaru's instructions, went to the Nara Residence and took the sleeping girl to his home.

At first, he planned to leave the girl in the care of his many servants. It was simple, easy, and the most sensible way to go about it. It was a perfect solution. That way, the brat wouldn't bother him too much, and he wouldn't have to do anything with her.

Oh, how wrong he was...

The moment the spawn of the devil woke up next morning, she screeched loudly enough to blow the Hyuuga Mansion's roof into the sky three times over. Everyone came running to see what was going on, and it took Neji at least thirty minutes to convince everyone in the house that Hatsune was NOT a secret child he had with some other woman who was not his fiancé, Tenten.

After they managed to get the girl to stop crying, she evolved immediately into a she-devil. Hatsune seemed to find everything in the Hyuuga Mansion, the house she almost destroyed with her bellowing just a few minutes before, wondrously interesting. She ran from one room to another at the speed no one would believe a two and a half year old child could be capable of. The maid couldn't keep up with the girl, and after less than half an hour, they came running to him for help.

After catching up to that child, a simple enough task for a shinobi of Neji's calibre, Hatsune took the strangest liking to Neji and attached herself firmly to Neji's back. She surprised Neji with the strength of her grip, and he couldn't, no matter what he did, shake that chit off.

"Uncle Niji~, take me to that room!" Hatsune bellowed happily, while she pulled Neji's hair as she would to a horse's harness.

Neji growled frighteningly at the little girl who Shikamaru forbade him to upset. Usually, that would scare off someone twenty times Hatsune's age, but the girl took no notice of his frown at all.

"Let's go already, Uncle Noji~!" She yanked his hair again to emphasise her desire to be somewhere else. She kicked her leg into Neji's side as a signal for him to gallop like a pony.

"NO, for the last time, GET OFF ME!!!" Neji screamed in extreme frustration. "And my name is NEJI!"

"Come on, Uncle Naji, go!!!"

Neji would do anything to make sure that Shikamaru got annihilated when he got back to Konoha...

...Oh yes, he would...

***

After digesting all the information unwillingly given to them, Kakashi and Jiraiya fully understood the dilemma in which the romantically retarded shinobi were in...

...and they laughed like there was no tomorrow...

Shikamaru and Sasuke seethed with anger now. Not only were they not helping, they were making the situation actually worse than before by damaging their manly husband pride, regardless of how little they had it even before all these crazy events.

"Just untie me, Nara, and let's get going." Sasuke said curtly, pointedly not looking at the two newcomers. "I don't want to waste my time here with two mad fools."

"Right." Shikamaru answered dryly and went to loosen the ropes around his comrade.

"Sorry, sorry..." Kakashi managed to croak out his apology through all the wheezing from laughing. He stopped to gasp for air before he continued.

"I'm really sorry for laughing at you guys. As a token of my goodwill, please let me help you find Sakura and Temari." Kakashi's voice was calm and cool, however, his glinting eyes completely belied his proclaimed 'goodwill', and Sasuke and Shikamaru looked at him suspiciously.

"I'll help, too!" Jiraiya volunteered excitedly. Both Sasuke and Shikamaru turned to look at each other, and they spat out together without hesitation.

"HELL NO!!!"

***

The next day, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura and Temari set out for the _actual_, _actual_ Hot Spring Village.

"Yosh, let's go!!!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. He took Hinata's hand in his, and grinned widely. "This is going to be real fun, ne, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata was blushing prettily and nodded eagerly. "Hai..." She said faintly. "Hai, Naruto-kun..."

They looked happily at each other, lost in the love in each other's eyes.

Behind them, Temari and Sakura looked as if they were to lose the breakfast they just had in the morning.

"Wanna bet how long this love-sick state will last?" Sakura asked quietly.

Temari raised her eyebrows at the challenge. "A hundred ryo Hinata will be running to us in less than a month."

"I say three months." Sakura's lips curved into a sly smile.

"You're on." Temari agreed.

***

"What are the two of you doing here, anyway?" Shikamaru asked as they were walking through the once again lively village. It took them all night to convince the villagers that they were no threats and that it was safe to return. Fortunately, the damage was not too serious, despite the show of temper Sasuke displayed earlier, and the villagers harboured no grudge against them... err... not too much anyway...

The grey haired shinobi stiffened immediately at Shikamaru's question, while the white haired ninja replied immediately.

"We're here to do some... you know... research!" The old man cackled deviously, while his eyes held the strange, dreamy look which didn't feel very right. Both younger shinobi glanced disapprovingly first towards the 'Ero-Sennin' as Naruto christened him, and then towards the copy ninja, who laughed dryly, scratching his head in embarrassment.

Sasuke and Shikamaru sighed.

"Anyway, as promised, I'll help you both find the girls!" Kakashi tried to redeem himself in the eyes of his former students, if there was anything left to redeem in the first place. "Any idea where they might be now?"

"We don't know." Sasuke snapped, before asking bitingly. "If I did, would I still be here?"

Kakashi raised his hands in a sign of defeat. "Alright, alright, I'm just asking. No need to bite my head off..."

Shikamaru sighed. He was just as frustrated and worried as Sasuke was, even though he didn't look it. "We've checked everywhere, the inns, the streets, the shops, every house, and..." A slight blush crept onto Shikamaru's, and even Sasuke's, cheeks a little before the Nara Heir continued. "And even the hot springs..."

Jiraiya made a suggestive 'oooh' with gleaming eyes and nudged both Sasuke and Shikamaru knowingly, completely ignoring the glares he received from both husbands. Meanwhile Kakashi sighed and wondered. Where could the girls be? He was pretty sure they were meant to come here. However, while the possibility of them being ambushed or abduct by bandits or rogue ninjas were very low, it wasn't impossible...

Sasuke seemed to share his train of thoughts, and he ran his hand roughly through his hair. He was sick, sick with worry for Sakura, and the dark circles under his onyx eyes showed just how much.

Shikamaru, who sported similar circles under his sharp eyes, said in a tone that was more abrupt than usual.

"We should split up and search different areas." He proposed. "That way, we'd cover more ground in less time."

Sasuke nodded, while Jiraiya volunteered.

"I'll keep searching in the village for them." No one, however, missed an evil glint in Jiraiya's eyes, and they guessed his plan pretty accurately.

_He probably 'searched' around the hot springs_, the three shinobi thought all at the same time.

"I'll trace their track from Konoha again from scratch." Sasuke said.

"I'll go with you." Shikamaru said. He turned to Kakashi and yelled as both he and Sasuke were already making their way towards the gate of the Hot Spring Village. "Check the nearby area for them please, Kakashi-sensei!"

And with that, both agitated husbands left.

Kakashi watched Sasuke and Shikamaru leaving in haste, worry written all over their faces and he whispered to himself.

"I wish you could see them like this, Sakura, Temari..."

***

Tsunade banged her head against her desk forcefully. Unfortunately for her, that didn't manage to knock her out.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune exclaimed at once from the little desk where she was working. "Please do not slack off now! We still have five more piles of mission documents to stamp approval and two more folders of top secret mission to review!"

Tsunade sighed heavily while glancing at the empty desk where Sakura used to occupy. The Fifth Hokage was starting to regret giving Sakura the permission to leave the village for a vacation.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune prompted her mentor again.

"You are never going to get another holiday for the next three years, Sakura..." Tsunade muttered under her breath as she picked up her Hokage stamp. "Mark my words..."

***

Heh, heh, I have you all like this chapter. I certainly do.

My sister went off to a session of Neji-gallop. If you review, I'll give you one of those tickets, too!

MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Now, off to Neji-galloping...


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"For the love of God, Naruto, please don't say that we're gonna stop at this teahouse..." Sakura groaned as she saw another teahouse another fifteen metres away. Temari had a strange look on her face that could be described as an 'oh no, not again' look, while Hinata only snuggled up to Naruto's side happily, unaware of most of the things (that weren't said by Naruto) that had been said during this trip.

"Sakura-chan, how did you know I was going to say that?!" Naruto asked. He looked surprised, then a moment later, his expression of surprise turned into excitement. "Have you learned a new jutsu to guess people's thoughts, Sakura-chan!!! That's amazing!"

A loud whack could be heard from a radius of at least twenty metres, followed by a yelp of pain from Naruto and a gasp of worry from Hinata.

"We've been stopping at every teahouse, ramen stand and dango shop we encountered on our way to the Hot Spring Village! This must be the tenth-something place we stopped at already!" Temari, who lost her patience, shouted at Naruto who was nursing the bump on his head pitifully with Hinata cooing to him at his side. "For goodness's sake, let's move on already!"

"What's the hurry, anyway...?" Naruto mumbled under his breath while Hinata, being the loving person that she was, fussed over the bump on his head. She rummaged her bag to find some balm or such to put on the bump on Naruto's head when a hand reached to stop hers.

"Na... Naruto-kun..." The newly wedded bride stammered as she blushed at the feeling of warmth his hand in hers. The smile Naruto gave her was so kind, so gentle, and so warm...

"It's ok, Hinata-chan." He said, all the while looking at her lovingly, appreciating her kindness and love. He was such a lucky man to find someone like her, and for all the pain and hardship in his life, he felt blessed, and that was all because of her. "Thank you, Hinata-chan. No one has ever been so good to me before..."

"Naruto-kun..."

They stared into each other's eyes intensely with love, and their hands entwined inseparably, and they...

"Not to interrupt or anything, but won't you guys please get a room?!?" Temari slapped her forehead at the sight of another scene of the love-sick state the honeymooning couple was displaying. God, this must be the twentieth-something time she and Sakura were forced to endure these scenes already!

"Or get moving already!!!" Sakura added vigorously. "We have a hot spring to go to, remember?!?"

And, just like the twentieth-something time before, the kunoichi who ran away from their husbands were ignored by the newly married couple, who were still blinded from the outside world and lost in each other's eyes.

"Oh god," Temari moaned. "Let's hope we actually get to the Hot Spring Village by nightfall."

"At this rate, we won't get there for another week." Sakura grumbled.

***

"Looks like this is where they took a wrong turn." Shikamaru commented as he analysed the footprints on the ground before him.

Luckily for both husbands, when their wives decided to leave them, they didn't cover their tracks. It was most probably because they were drunk, but both men thanked god fervently for it anyway. If they had been sober and really thought that they didn't want to be found, then both of them would most likely still be left in the dark.

Sasuke's eyes suddenly lit up as he looked around their surroundings. "I remember this path..."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows at Sasuke's words. "You do?"

The memory of their seemingly insignificant mission suddenly rushed back to Sasuke. Without realising it, he smiled as he remembered how they tried to come up with several methods of trying to unmask their sensei. They ultimately failed, of course. Naruto had avowed he would find a way to see Kakashi's face one day.

That one day hadn't arrived yet, it seemed.

His face became tender as he remembered his Sakura back then. It was only a little while after the Chunin Exam. At the time, he was solely focused on becoming stronger, well, almost solely. Without even realising it then, both Naruto and Sakura had become a large part of the reason why he wanted to become strong. While he wanted to get stronger than Naruto, he also wanted to protect his friend, and as for Sakura... he had always seen her as someone he _had to_ protect.

At first, it was an encumbrance to him. She always got in the way, and he thought of her as annoying, and weak. But as time passed, she became someone he _must_ protect. Sasuke no longer thought of her as weak, but to him, she was vulnerable. His eyes always moved to find her first at the first sign of danger, his hands reached out to her unthinkingly as she stumbled, and his heart... his heart just melted whenever she graced him with a smile.

He didn't really know how she did it, but she managed to find her way into his heart.

Maybe it was because of her kind smile she always had for him, maybe it was because of the fact that it was her eyes he saw first whenever he opened his eyes from being injured or unconscious, that it was always her hand that held his, giving her warmth to him unstintingly.

No matter how she did it, she was in his heart, and that part would always belong to her, now and forever.

Shikamaru, seeing that Sasuke's mind had already wandered, looked back at the footprints on the ground. He tried to focus on all the facts and details presented to him to figure where she went, but he found that his mind started to wander as well.

He remembered how Temari and he used to go on tracking mission together once. Similarly to the current situation, he was the one analysing the tracks left by the enemies, while she would help him digest the information available and help him speculate with the present fact of which direction they could have gone.

It was the same this time. He was the one analysing the tracks. As always, he was looking at the information presently available and trying to analyse which way it was that their targets went to.

The only thing that was different was the fact that she wasn't here this time.

And he didn't like it. Not at all...

He tried again to remember what he did to upset her. That night, when she forcefully shoved him out of their bedroom, he could see in her eyes the hurt and the disappointment that they held, and he still wondered what he had done...

...and he felt guilty for not knowing what it was that he had done...

The day when she agreed to marry him, despite all of his faults, he promised himself he would do his best to be and become deserving of her love.

But the expression she held in her eyes said otherwise.

And for the first time, he didn't know what to think or what to do.

Then he remembered her smile again, the one that he loved the most. He remembered how she would smile, and then call him some names like 'cry-baby' or 'scaredy cat', but all those words were meaningless. The only thing that ever mattered was her smile, the smile that said without words that she believed in him, that she trusted him...

...that she loved him...

Would he throw all of those away now, just because he didn't know what to do?

Hell, no...

Suddenly, Sasuke broke the silence that came over them.

"We should get going..." His voice was a calm that belied the turbulence hidden deep beneath, Shikamaru could feel it, and he replied to this with a voice not so very different from Sasuke's.

"Yes," Shikamaru replied, clutching his hands tightly with determination once again. "Let's go."

***

"One more dango, please!" The small voice of Hatsune could be heard clearly throughout the dango shop, and so was the sound of Neji's grinding teeth.

Neji took a look at his purse and sighed heavily. Damn that little girl... he thought. Her angelic look was definitely belying her true self. She was not an angel that everyone else they encountered believed her to be.

She was a glutton.

After managing to convince the little girl that they should leave the Hyuuga Mansion, the girl decided that she was hungry and wanted to eat dango. Neji agreed readily, as he was most eager to get her away from his home to save it from total ruination.

What he did not anticipate, however, was that _he_ was about to face utter ruination instead.

The little girl had the appetite of a full grown ox. After downing at least 10 bowls of sweet nuts, 10 sticks of dango, and 5 more rice cakes, she was still claiming she wanted more.

Neji took another look at the content of his purse and he paled.

Please wake him up from this nightmare...

***

Shikamaru and Sasuke finally tracked the path their wives had taken to the inn where Team 7 stayed during their most memorable of all their insignificant missions.

Sasuke tried his hardest to ignore the inn's owner, who welcomed them profusely with her over brightly smiling face. Her shrill laughter made him almost want to cover his ears and ran away, but he managed to keep up his cool and calm appearance, and therefore did not shame his family.

He was kind of proud of himself... he guessed...

Meanwhile, Shikamaru's mind didn't quite register how high-pitched the lady's voice was. Instead, his focus was solely on the information she was giving him.

"Yes, there were two such persons as you described came to stay at my inn last night." She spoke, taking great pride in her faultless memory.

Sasuke's expression perked up at once upon hearing they were finally on the right track. "Are they still here?" He asked, hopeful that this might be where their search ended.

Sadly, he was wrong. The old lady shook her head. "No, they left in quite a hurry this morning. It seems they intended to go somewhere else and only stopped here to rest."

Sasuke's face returned to its brooding expression faster than the speed of light, and he returned to his sulking immediately.

Shikamaru, who had always been the most sensible shinobi of all the Konoha Twelve, continued his questioning. "Do you know where they were going? Did they say anything at all?"

The inn's owner pondered, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Well... I did hear them talking... not that I meant to eavesdrop, of course! Such a person as I, of course, would never stoop down to such shameful behaviour..."

"Just tell me where they went." Shikamaru cut short the inn owner's speech. She looked a little indignant for being interrupted, but she went on regardless.

"They were saying that they were going to the Hot Spring Village..."

Sasuke looked highly aggravated. "So they might be in the Hot Spring Village by now..."

Shikamaru sighed tiredly. "That means we have to go back to the Hot Spring Village again." The shadow-user shuddered as he imagined going back to that village again. The people there didn't like him very much, no thanks to the temperamental chicken-ass here...

"Just to be sure, we should find their track, in case they got lost somewhere again." Sasuke said as he turned to ask the lady. "Which way did they go?"

The inn's lady pointed them towards the direction Sakura and Temari had taken the night before. "This way."

Shikamaru slapped his forehead. A resounding smack could be heard from miles away. "Ugh, they took the wrong way..."

"Again..." Sasuke agreed. His shoulders slumped as he thought about the long winded way they had to travel.

When I get my hands on you, Sakura... Sasuke thought. Oh, just wait 'til I get my hands on you...

***

At the 14th Teahouse before reaching the Hot Spring Village

"A- achoo!!!"

"Here," Temari handed a clean napkin to Sakura, who mumbled her thanks and took it to clean her face.

"Someone must have been thinking about you..." Temari said ponderingly. She looked into the distance, wishing someone would be thinking of her as well.

"Do you think we should just leave the two of them here? So we can finally reach the Hot Spring?" Sakura whispered to Temari, who was looking like she was going to throw up any minutes now.

Sakura couldn't blame her, not at all. The more-than-several public displays of affection that Naruto and Hinata had been sharing was making wanted to bang her head against walls... thick ones, too. It was just so embarrassing to be seen with those lovesick lovebirds.

But deep down, Sakura admitted that parts of her felt jealous of the Hyuuga Heiress. Although it was more than a little excessive, but she could always be certain of the affection and the esteem her husband had for her. She could see it clearly in her eyes how secure and comfortable Hinata felt with herself now...

...and Sakura envied her for that...

To say that her husband, the Uchiha Prodigy, was an emotionally handicapped person would not be so very far from the truth, well, maybe less than the truth, but that wasn't really the point. The point was that she had accepted that fact long, long ago. But still, she often longed for him to show her some gesture of affection. She was not asking for much, perhaps a smile, a simple pad on the shoulder, a holding hand...

Part of the reason why Sakura ran away, she confessed to herself, was that she wanted to see how Sasuke would react to it. Would he remain calm and cool as you please? Or maybe he would show a little distress?

She only wanted to see, just once, that he really did care for her.

The other part was to prove to him that she was strong enough to take care of herself. Really, anyone would have thought she had an incurable disease instead of a child in her belly, if they judged by the way he had been treating her. And even before that, too. He would always treat her as if she was about to break any moment, as if she would shatter if touched.

It annoyed her, and saddened her as well, to think he did not think much of her at all.

She also knew it was a little childish to have just left without seriously talking to him about it, but she blamed that on her 'Inner' who relished the thought of revenging Sasuke for belittling her. The 'Real' Sakura outside would never resort to such childish antic, of course.

_Yeah, right…_ The Inner self drawled sarcastically. _Of course, you don't feel this little tingly sense of satisfaction well in _OUR _chest right now, right?_

Shut up, replied Sakura with only just the right amount of defensiveness.

***

While Sakura was fighting with her Inner Self, Temari was also thinking about a certain someone... _her_ certain someone as well. The obvious love that the newly wedded couple had been displaying could not have failed to make even Temari think about her own love life, which was looking pretty gloomy right now.

She could maybe admit to herself, only herself, that the measure she had taken this time was pretty drastic for such a trivial thing, that she was overreacting. But, Temari bit her lips; she just wanted to show him... She only wanted to show him how those little trivial things could hurt as well. There were many little things that Temari had tried to ignore since they'd been married, things like Shikamaru not picking up his clothes, not washing the dishes, never help her clean up. They were trivial things...

But many small things could always add up and become something big...

_Did he care at all?_ Those _trivial_ things sometimes made her wonder. It was hard to tell what was going on his mind behind the expression of boredom he wore as a second skin. Sometimes he would sigh, often he would look out of the window, away from where she was, away from her, and although it might look as if she was being oversensitive, there was no denying to herself that it hurt.

She had always presented herself as a strong and capable kunoichi, but undeniably, there was another side who was just a woman who longed to be showered with affection, to be cared for, to be protected.

To be loved... and to feel assured in that love...

And although, she knew exactly how Shikamaru was, that wouldn't stop her from wanting to change him, just a little.

And his last _forgetfulness_ was the last straw. She wanted to teach him a lesson...

And by the gods, she would.

***

Whew! That's another chapter done, folks! Hooray!

I wished I could have finished this chapter sooner, but the end of the month means there are reports to finish, hand in, rewrite, and then hand in again until your boss is happy, which was why I didn't have enough time to finish this chapter sooner.

Why can't food just appear in my fridge, money appears into my bank account, and rent and bill paid themselves?

Hopefully, my boss will not have some grand plan for all of us and made us run around in circles.

And don't forget to review! Review makes me write much faster, and more motivated while doing that, too!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"So," Shikamaru started, breaking the silence during their _walk_. "What are you going to say to Sakura when you get to her?"

_What he was going to say? _Sasuke thought silently. _More like what he was going to __**do**__ to her, rather..._

Sasuke's face remained stoic, but his thoughts ran wild at once. _What was he going to do to her?_ What indeed...

First, he was going to snatch her away from everyone else. Once they were out of sights, he would... and then he was going to... and after that, he...

Shikamaru scrutinised the expression on Sasuke's face (whatever little that could be seen, at least), then, he unceremoniously blurted out.

"I never knew you were a pervert."

"..."

"..."

The silence between them was deafening, and the glares that were flying between the two were thicker than blood.

"I don't like you." Sasuke concluded with finality.

***

"Achoo!"

"Gosh, Sakura," Temari handed her friend yet another napkin. "You must be catching a cold or something."

"Yeah," Sakura blew her nose into the napkin gratefully. "Or someone must really miss me..."

Sakura's thoughts went first to her stoic husband, but then she decided it might have been someone from the hospital who might need her help. Yes, that was definitely more likely.

Yet, she couldn't quite shake the feeling of dread away...

***

"Well, then. What are _you_ going to say to your wife anyway?" Sasuke shot the question back to the shadow jutsu user. That landed quite a blow on Shikamaru, since the only answer he had to that question was.

He didn't know...

_At least that Uchiha knows what he was going to do... _Shikamaru grumbled in his mind. _I don't even know if I'll survive Her Wrath..._

Life was so unfair sometimes, Shikamaru mused to himself. _But..._ his thought couldn't help but wandered... _if you _could_, what would you do?_

Several images of what he would like to do to his lovely wife stormed his mind almost all at once. Blood rushed to his face, and tint of it could almost be seen in the bright daylight.

"So you are a pervert, too." Sasuke commented. A sly grin on his face simply screamed a 'ha ha you are also a pervert as well' clearer than day.

Once again, silence reigned over both shinobi, before Shikamaru decided to give Sasuke a piece of his mind.

"I don't like you either."

***

"Achoo!" A loud sneeze came from Temari this time.

"Oh no, I hope you're not catching a cold from me!" Sakura said as Temari took another napkin to wipe her nose.

"Let's hope not..." Temari replied. All the while, she told herself to not hope that someone might be thinking of her.

***

Kakashi was making another round in the area near the Hot Spring Village. There was still no sign that the missing kunoichi had gone through this area...

The grey haired shinobi sighed dejectedly, and hoped fervently that Sasuke and Shikamaru would find out by now the whereabouts of their wives. Not only was he worried for his student, Kakashi also knew that if the two shinobi couldn't find their wives, they would make his life miserable until the kunoichi returned.

Suddenly, one of his summoned ninja hound made his way back to him, along with the smaller Pakkun.

Hope lit up in Kakashi's mind. _Let's hope that Pakkun managed to find both girls_, the perverted sensei crossed his fingers behind his back and wished that it would come true.

"Have you found them?" He asked impatiently. Pakkun and his friend nodded serenely.

"They are heading this way, Sakura-chan and Temari both." Kakashi's faithful ninja hound answered nonchalantly. He sniffed the air a few more times, and then continued. "Apparently, they are travelling with Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan as well."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Naruto and Hinata as well? Really?"

His lips curved into a smile that could not be described as entirely innocent.

"This should be interesting..." He murmured to himself quietly.

***

"So, can we leave?" Pakkun asked his absent-minded master, who was busy thinking of something Pakkun really didn't want to know about.

"Oh... Sorry. You guys can leave now. Thanks again!"

The two canines poofed away even before Kakashi could finish the sentence.

"Bloody perverted ninja…" was what Kakashi thought he heard before Pakkun disappeared out of sight.

***

"Finally!!!" Sakura and Temari screamed out together simultaneously from the joy of finally reaching their _true _destination. After all those countless stops and getting lost, all those smacking Naruto head and yelling at him for stopping at yet another insignificant place, they were finally here...

Both were so happy at the thought of going to the hot spring that they forgot Naruto and Hinata were still following them, and sprinted into the direction of the nearest inn without a care in the world, leaving Naruto and Hinata in the dust of their trail.

"WAIT, Sakura-chan, Temari!!!" Naruto shouted after them through the dust cloud to no avail. The two kunoichi were already too far away to hear him (even if they could, it was doubtful that they would listen to Naruto anyway). The demon fox container shook his head at his over-eager friends. He was about to start complaining about them being so moody of late, complaining about every single little thing, but a pat on his shoulder interrupted his train of thoughts, and he turned to see...

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!!!" Naruto shouted gleefully, conveniently ignoring the fact that Kakashi put his hands on both of his ears protectively from the sheer volume of Naruto's voice. The grey haired man turned to look at Hinata, and admired how she did not even flinch at the unholy sound from his orange clad student. In fact, she seemed to be happy to hear all those ungodly noises Naruto was making.

Kakashi could not hold back a shudder. _This girl's hearing must be impaired…_ _That or she really has strange taste…_ Then he decided that it was probably a little bit of both.

"What are you doing here, Sensei?" Naruto asked excitedly. "I thought you were busy helping the Ero-Sannin with his research!"

"Well, I AM still helping him with his research." Kakashi replied vaguely. A sly grin spread slowly on his half-hidden face. "In fact, it's what I am doing right now!"

***

"Great, it appears they made it to the Bamboo Village..." Shikamaru groaned as he was standing in front of the small and quiet village.

"It's a wonder how either of them could become a kunoichi without a sense of direction..." Sasuke muttered. His scowl was ten times darker than what it normally was.

"Normally, I should be offended that you speak of my wife like that." Shikamaru stated tiredly. "But this time, I have to say I agree with you, wholeheartedly."

***

Jiraiya was having a good time.

Actually, to be honest...

He was having a GREAT time.

His grip on his portable telescope tightened as another group of girls walked into the hot spring with only towels covering their bodies. He giggled to himself maniacally as he scribbled furiously into his notes.

His old heart beat faster as the aforementioned group of girls were about to take their only obstacle to Jiraiya's glorious moment off.

This was sheer heaven, indeed.

Well, it was, at least until there were two shadows appearing behind him, that is... and they were... well... menacing, frightening, intimidating and practically terrifying to say the least.

"Ahem." A fake cough could be heard from the blonde hair kunoichi, whose face loomed larger than life right behind Jiraiya, while the pink hair medic cracked her knuckled loudly enough to make the sage gulped loudly.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Temari asked the perverted Sannin darkly. Her expression was becoming more and more forbidding.

"I was about to ask the same thing." Sakura smiled her fake smile that she always used on Sai before she beat him up. Jiraiya could sense his doom in a few seconds away.

"Umm... Research?" He offered, all the while trying to look as pitiful as possible. Even though he didn't think it would work, but hey, it was worth a try, right?

The two kunoichi went deadly quiet, and a few seconds later, shouts erupted from the spot they stood.

"DIE, YOU OLD PERVERT!!!"

"SHANNARO!!!"

And then, suddenly, Jiraiya wasn't having a great time anymore...

***

While the two wayward wives went happily to the longed for hot springs without worries on their mind and nary a thought to spare for their beloved, their two very worried husband was tearing their hair out, and swore to god they would buy their wives a compass and a map as soon as it could be arranged.

Or, as Sasuke proposed, just lock them all up in the house, and make sure they never get another chance to step even a dainty toe outside of the village gate.

Yup, the latter sounded soooo much better, so much that even Shikamaru almost agreed with it, before realising that, in his case, it didn't seem likely to be practicable. He tried imagining restraining his Temari from setting foot outside the village, and all he could come up with was the vision of his own early death.

Deciding it was better to actually live to the age he could retire, Shikamaru gave a disappointed sigh before trying to come up with other methods to prevent his wife from getting lost instead.

***

At the same time, the newly wedded couple Naruto and Hinata checked themselves into one of the many inns in the Hot Spring Village. Kakashi had already left them after two minutes of enduring their publicly obvious affection they had been showing to each other. His sympathy wholeheartedly went to the two kunoichi who managed to stay alive after being exposed to prolong period of disgustingly lovesick gestures of love.

Tsunade, at the same time, was sleeping on her desk. Her papers had a curious little mark that almost looked like water stain on it. She dreamt that she was drinking sake peacefully while playing the slot machine and actually won big money.

Neji was dying from overconsumption… albeit someone else's and not his own.

Hatsune was having the time of her life, and completely unaware of any of the things mentioned above.

***

_I always stumbled across interesting things_, Kakashi mused to himself.

The grey hair shinobi used a long stick to poke the unconscious sage on the ground repeatedly to ascertain whether he was still alive. A few seconds later, he heard a pained groan from the man lying face down on the ground.

"Oh good, it seems he's still alive." Kakashi spoke to himself. "I should get a move on, then."

Then he stepped over the fallen sage without ever looking back.

***

A few hours later, the worn out and currently-abandoned-by-their-wives shinobi finally arrived back at the REAL Hot Spring Village, the exact same village that they had come first, and would have no cause to run around like a pair of idiots if their wives actually had any sense at all regarding the directions they took. It was really an understatement to say that they were exhausted, Shikamaru thought, as they had covered the ground that should be travelled in one day in just a few hours.

"Finally back where we started." Shikamaru sighed exhaustedly for the two hundred and fifty seventh time that day, while Sasuke was just plain too tired and exasperate to speak at all.

They made their way through the now darkened village as quickly as their tired body allowed them. Shikamaru, whose eyes were almost close, stumbled upon something and almost lost his balance.

"What the-?" He looked down on the obstacle lying on the ground, and found that it was-

"Oh, lovely..." Sasuke muttered. He couldn't keep his face from showing such a blatant annoyance. "It's Naruto's Ero-Sannin."

"..." A muffled groan of something sounded like a protest could be heard from the obstacle that was lying before the two husbands.

However, they just didn't have the energy to care.

Not like they would care in the first place anyway...

"Let's go. Your wife and Sakura are probably checked into one of these inns." He took a glance at the sage who tried to get up without success and concluded. "I don't think the Sannin here knows anything. We should either find Kakashi and asked him, or find them ourselves."

"Great idea..." Shikamaru agreed.

Both shinobi stepped over the fallen sage and left without ever looking back.

***

After a long and blissful hot spring session, Sakura and Temari were both perfectly content. They returned to their shared room and helped each other laid the futon out.

Both were sipping tea together, talking, gossiping and laughing merrily. Sticks after sticks of dango mellowed their mood considerably and they were completely relaxed…

And they were unaware of the approaching dangers…

As both kunoichi were discussing a plan (an excuse) to prolong their holiday, Sakura heard a light tapping on the door. She paused to get up and said to Temari.

"I'll get the door." She motioned to Temari to remain seated, a request which Temari readily complied, and leaned back into the many pillows stuffed behind her back to provide more comfort after the long and arduous journey from village to village. She let out a sigh of contentment and stretched her back to release all the leftover tension in her muscle.

As Sakura made her way to the front door, she wondered who could be looking for them now. Naruto, perhaps? Maybe he was looking for someone to play cards with, or maybe he was looking for people to accompany him to ramen stand she saw earlier in the village centre? She grimaced at the thought of ramen and shuddered in disgust. Seriously, her best friend really needed variation in his daily intake of food.

As she considered other possible destinations Naruto would want to go after she refused to go get yet another ramen with him, her hand reached the doorknob and she turned it opened.

She was about to say her greeting, until she saw who was standing outside her room.

One angry looking Uchiha Sasuke...

Oh, shit...

***

Sasuke waited impatiently for the door to be opened. After ransacking at least five inns tonight, he finally found the one his wife was staying at. He was counting the seconds it took her to walk to the door, to turn the doorknob and to finally open it...

As soon as she saw him, he saw her expression changed to surprise. It was clear she wasn't expecting him to come for her.

Oh, how wrong she was... Sasuke thought to himself. And he was going to show her just how much.

Before Sakura could say anything, the Uchiha Prodigy snatched her by the waist and carried her in his arms. Before she could protest, he was already running off with her at the speed which she couldn't fathom how he could be capable off.

***

Temari leaned into her cushion and waited for Sakura to come back, yet, when a few seconds of silence passed, she began to wonder what was taking her friend so long.

"Sakura," Temari called out. Yet, there was no reply from the said girl. The blonde kunoichi frowned wonderingly before grudgingly getting up from her comfy spot and walked to the door to see what Sakura was up to.

However, Sakura wasn't there.

Instead, she saw someone else entirely standing at the door, someone she was half-expecting, and half-unexpecting to come.

Standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets, was Nara Shikamaru, her, lazy genius, the father of her child, her errant husband.

He let out a long, tortured sigh as soon as he saw the expression on her face.

"This is going to be troublesome..." The Nara Genius murmured to himself.

***

That's another chapter, thank god! Between all those numbers from work and the text of this chapter, it's a surprised I manage to still sit upright in my chair (even if it's a comfy one).

I know it's been a while since I update this story. I want to update it more often, I know, but life doesn't always let you do what you want. Not my fault, though, so please don't blame me! (Feel free, however, to blame my boss and his obsession with 'productivity')

I hope you guys like this chapter, and remember, if you like it, review it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Sasuke, put me down!" Sakura screeched at her husband, but he refused to comply.

"Sasuke!" The pink hair medic prompted him again. "Put me down! Now!"

Obviously, Sasuke ignored her demand, and her hands that were hitting him repeatedly. She wasn't going to order him around. Oh, no indeed… Not this time…

As he ignored her demand and kept running, Sakura told herself the only reason she clung to him _almost_ tightly was because she was afraid she might fall if she didn't stay still, and NOT because she missed him or anything like that. No, not at all…

The only reason she was burying her face in his chest was because she didn't want the rushing wind hitting her face, not because she wanted to smell his scent, to feel that he was really here…

And no, she was not glad that he had come after her. Her heart was not doing a triple back-flip and a double twirl because of that...

_Yeah, keep lying to yourself if that makes you feel better..._ Her Inner Self, who was never helpful at any given circumstance, piped in. _You know what you really feel inside..._

_Shut up!_ She gave her inner thought a scold, and wondered how on earth it could always wield the truth like a weapon.

Sakura was so absorbed in her thoughts (or rather, the argument she had with her inner-self) that she was startled when her husband came to a sudden halt. She took a look around them, and it seemed like he brought her to a small cottage on the outskirt of the village (how he managed to procure such a place she had no idea). He kicked the door opened, and once they were inside, he put her down gently.

Just as Sakura turned to face Sasuke, the sound of a soft click echoed throughout the cottage, and Sakura realised Sasuke had just locked the door, the only entrance and exit to this humble abode.

Uh oh...

***

Temari was never truly angry at Shikamaru to begin with.

Actually, scratch that…

Temari was never _that_ angry at Shikamaru to begin with.

She only just realised this as soon as she saw Shikamaru standing at the door, looking as haggard and tired as he was. She felt a little guilty for being the reason for his current state, but a small part of her was actually a little satisfied and a little proud to see that he would come after her, that a man who found most things troublesome like Shikamaru would go to all those troubles to come after her.

Oh, and she was laughing a little, just a little, at his current state as well. Call her vengeful, or whatever, but she couldn't help but be a little smug. It wasn't like her husband didn't totally deserve that.

So, when she spoke, she couldn't help but snapping at him a little. Her pride and the residue of her resentment wouldn't let her do otherwise.

"So," Temari folded her arms around her chest. "Finally found me, huh? It took you that long?"

The blond kunoichi almost bit her tongue as those words left her lips, but she didn't manage to stop it in time. Before she could properly berate herself for saying such a dreadful thing, however, Temari saw her husband shrugged, appearing as uncaring as ever. But, being the observant person that she was, Temari thought she could just detect the hurt in his eyes for a brief moment before they stilled once again.

"Well," Shikamaru said as he walked into the room. "I would have found you much sooner, had you not taken all those _detours_ to begin with."

One of the threads of patience in Temari snapped. Her face tinged with pink at her husband's subtle insult at her directional sense. The retort she gave was as immediate as it was defensive.

"I wasn't lost!" The blond kunoichi regretted saying that as soon as the words left her mouth. How defensive she must have seemed... Her face turned a deeper shade of red as she saw her husband chuckled quietly to himself.

"Yes, I'm sure." Shikamaru managed to say. "You were just... well... taking your time, I guess. You just went through, say, two villages for no reason, stopped at thirty or so ramen stand, dango shop, and other insignificant places for no reason."

All the while, Shikamaru didn't notice how Temari had turned into at least three shades of red, and now her face had finally reached the 'angry' red stage.

So, when he finally noticed metallic glint of the giant fan in her hand, it was too late...

*WHAM*

It was a clean KO.

***

Let's see...

She was trapped in a cabin with only one exit, which was now locked, with one must-be-angry husband standing in front of it, and that said husband was also staring at her pretty intensely.

Sakura was in deep shit, indeed.

_I told you not to be so childish and ran away from problems_,the Inner Sakura chided her outer-self. _It's your fault that we're now in this situation!_

_Oh really..._ Sakura thought back at her inner-self. _When the hell did you tell me this???_

Before the kunoichi could properly berate her inner-self, she saw the said _problem_ she was supposedly told not to run away from took a step closer. She flinched and almost, _almost_, took an unwilling step back.

_Right, gotta go, BYE!!! _The Inner Sakura immediately said and vanished, leaving Sakura all alone with one angry-looking Sasuke.

_WHAT??? WAIT YOU-_

Sakura didn't manage to finish that thought as she was suddenly swept into her husband's arms. She squealed, startled by the suddenness of his movement. He held onto her tightly, almost squeezing the breath out of her.

"Sa- Sasuke…" Sakura breathed out softly. She tried to pry herself away from his tight embrace, but he pulled her closer.

"Sasuke-kun, I can't brea-..." She didn't even get a chance to finish the sentence before he picked her up, and before she knew it, he fell on to the narrow bed with her underneath him with her back to his chest.

She gasped as he rested his weight on her back, and her heart beat ten times faster than before. The feeling of how close he was to her made her flushed quite a few shades of red, and she was thankful now that the cottage was so dark.

Sakura tried to wriggle out of Sasuke's hold, but that served only to make him hold her tighter.

"Lie still, Sakura." He whispered sultrily into her ears. "Or I might decide I'm not too tired to punish you right here, right now."

Sakura's eyes widened at the implication of the threat and she blushed even harder. She decided to follow Sasuke's advice for now and lied still, letting the warmth of his embrace engulf them both in the cool night air.

She waited until Sasuke's breath became a steady rhythm before turning to face him. Sasuke didn't stir from his sleep, thankfully, and she took the opportunity to scrutinise his sleeping face.

He did look very tired and haggard indeed, Sakura thought guiltily as she traced her fingers along the line of his perfectly defined jaw. She saw the dark circles under his eyes and suddenly felt the urge to hold him closer into her arms. He must have been looking for her all these times without even thinking of taking care of himself.

She felt guilt creeping into her mind like a clumsy Naruto trying to stalk Kakashi (yes, very subtle, thank you very much), and yet, at the same time, she couldn't help but feel quite please that he would come after her. Her vanity would never let an opportunity to gloat like this get away without remarking on it.

Then she chided at herself for being an idiot for ever getting angry with him at all...

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun..." She whispered softly, holding him closer to her. "I love you..."

Since she put her head on his shoulder as she embraced him, Sakura didn't get to see the genuine, peaceful smile now gracing her husband's lips.

***

"Ugh..." was the first thing that escaped Shikamaru's lip as he woke up from being unconscious.

"Finally woke up, huh?"

That voice sobered Shikamaru instantly. He turned to see her sitting next to him. Then he realised she had put him on her futon and had been watching him ever since. He glanced towards the window, and saw the light of the new day starting to paint the horizon above.

_Dawn already_, he thought. _I can't believe I got knocked out for so long…_

"Temari... ugh... my head..." He cradled the bump on his head gently before looking at her almost incredulously. "You knocked me out... you and your stupid fan..."

"Wanna go for round two?" She asked menacingly, and that shut him up nicely.

_That's right… _Temari thought as she looked down on her husband. _No one can insult my fan…_

"And I'm still angry with you, remember?" She reminded him of the reason he was put into this state to begin with. His expression turned still at once, and he began to speak.

"So..." he started, not quite sure what he was going to say to his fiery temper wife. "I'm... I... uh..."

God, this is hard... Shikamaru scratched his head. This is going to be much tougher than I thought...

"...I'm waiting..." Temari prompted him. She would not let him get away without saying it, not this time. She didn't even want to hear that he loved her, she knew that already. She just wanted to know how much he appreciated her, just this once.

Shikamaru sighed. It looked like she was going to make him say it, after all. So he took a deep breath, and started to tell her the truth that he had never cared to tell her.

"Look, I know I may not have been a great husband, maybe not even a good one at most time. I don't help you around the house much and I may leave things lying around a little too often. I don't have any cooking skill to speak of to begin with, but you already know that."

A genuine smile escaped Temari's lips as she listened to her husband's rambling, but he was too occupied with his speech to notice it. She would never let him know, of course, how endearing she found his rambling to be.

Shikamaru sighed heavily, trying to come up with the right words to express what he was feeling.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that... I know how much you've done for me. I am thankful always for having you with me... and I am sorry I'm not a better husband. When you ran away, all I could think was that I've lost you and that it was my fault, and I just... couldn't let you go, and I just want to tell you that I'm sorry..."

All these words came rushing out together all at once. In his haste, Shikamaru's speech sounded a little slurred, but Temari absorbed every word like the sand absorbing water. Every word imprinted itself deep into her heart, and their implication was not lost on her.

She had never wanted his apology. All along, what she had wanted was only his appreciation, and his attempt to apologise had shown her just how much he cared, whether he intended to say it or not.

...and that was enough...

"I..." Shikamaru's mind was frantically looking for words to say, but he was interrupted.

"Shikamaru..." He raised his eyes to her face as her voice called him. The expression of love in her eyes was almost enough to make him collapse with relief. It was also funny how he'd only just realised how nervous he had been all these times since he had found her gone.

But all of those terrible, gut-wrenching feelings were all blown away with her smile.

She stepped closer to him, and he opened his arms and drew her into his embrace. They stayed together, one melting into another as if they were only one entity. Time flew past without meaning, and they finally knew contentment once again.

"I forgive you... Shikamaru..." Temari whispered huskily into his ear. "I lov-"

*SLAM*

Before the word could escape her lips, the door of the hotel room fell flat on the doorway. Before Shikamaru could even turn to see what was causing the ruckus, sands rushed into the room and onto Shikamaru's body, and before he could even manage a 'what-the-f***ing-hell???', they were already burying him underneath the bulk of them, trapping him from behind.

Temari looked up from her half-buried husband, and stood in the doorway was none other than-

"I came as soon as I heard you ran from Konoha."

"Gaara…" the faint whisper escaped from Temari's lips was the only identification Shikamaru needed to know that he was in deep shit.

The aforementioned Kazekage smiled icily.

"Now… tell me, where is that bastard who made you run away?"

Shikamaru knew an impending doom when he saw one.

***

Sakura slowly opened her eyes to the glaring morning light. As her brain processed the sight of her surrounding, she finally realised she wasn't where she was supposed to be, that she wasn't at the room she shared with Temari.

The events of last night came trickling back at a surprisingly slow speed. The first image that came back was that of Jiraiya's body thoroughly stomped, then the hot spring, after that it was chatting with her friend, and then there was the doorbell, and…

Sasuke…

Realisation of the weight resting on her waist hit her like lightening. How could she have missed it before? Slowly, like a tiny mouse afraid to wake the lion from its slumber, Sakura turned to her husband, only to see he was already wide awake, his gaze, as well as his hand, resting upon her.

"…Sasuke…" She whispered faintly, and as soon as his name left her lips, he drew her tightly into his arms. Her breath was caught as surprise overtook her, and she felt herself hesitated to breathe out, as if she feared it would dispel the image of the man lying next to her.

"…Sa- Sasuke…" She stammered as his hands stroke the small of her back gently, yet insistently. He smirked with self-satisfaction as he saw her shifting her weight, trying to pull away from him in discomfit. She knew, then, what was coming for her.

"Sakura," he breathed into her ears. "You have been very naughty…"

The pink haired kunoichi gulped inaudibly, and Sasuke couldn't stop grinning wider.

"And naughty girls should be… punished…" His whisper turned sultry and the woman in his arms blushed deeply at his implication. "Don't you think so?"

Just as Sakura was about to reply, the door of the cottage was smashed down into smithereens with a loud bang.

And stood in front of the door was her lifetime self-sworn protector…

Rock Lee…

"SAKURA-SAN!!! I'M HERE TO PROTECT YOU!!!" He shouted exuberantly, determination firing up in his eyes and his smile flashing like lightening, literally. Then he turned towards Sasuke. "HANDS OFF HER, VILLAIN!!!"

Sasuke swore viciously, and Sakura groaned into her pillow.

"THE BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!!!"

***

Well, what did you think of that? I tried to make this chapter focus on SasuSaku and ShikaTema moments but, personally, I'm not totally happy with it yet, but my muse isn't cooperating with me recently, due to work overload, that and the fact that I haven't updated in a while and want to do it as soon as I can.

And remember, reviews motivate me and make me write faster.


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